Beirut is a city that has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, and it carries the layers in plain sight. It sits on a headland jutting into the Mediterranean, with the snow-topped peaks of Mount Lebanon rising behind it, and on a clear winter day you could in principle ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon. The city has about two million people in its greater area, with a long waterfront Corniche where people walk, fish and smoke water pipes, and the Raouche rocks, two huge sea stacks off the western tip, stand like gateways to the sea.
History here goes back more than five thousand years, to the Phoenician era, and the Romans left their mark in a law school that was famous across the empire. In the modern age, the city was known as the Paris of the Middle East, with cafes, theatres and a cosmopolitan elite, before the civil war of 1975 to 1990 devastated the centre. More recently, a vast explosion at the port in August 2020 killed over two hundred people and damaged much of the city. Recovery is slow, but the city's spirit is strong, and its cooking, from mezze to fresh fish, is justly famous.
Riding in Beirut is not for the faint-hearted. Traffic is dense, drivers are assertive and the rules are interpreted freely, so keep your wits about you. The coast highway north and south is fast, and the mountain roads east of the city are the real reward: the road over Dahr el-Baidar, on the way to the Bekaa Valley, climbs through a series of bends to a pass at about fifteen hundred metres, with views back to the sea and, on the far side, the broad plain of the valley with its vineyards.
The ride from here goes to Anjar, an Umayyad city from the eighth century in the Bekaa, with its grid of streets and its colonnades. Fuel and the supply of electricity have been unreliable in recent years, so check current conditions and fill when you can. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, and in winter, snow can close the high passes.